


A Youtube Reactor in Middle Earth

by Rmlohner



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:42:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26074360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rmlohner/pseuds/Rmlohner
Summary: Megan Nova was just a Youtube reactor like so many others, until she somehow found herself in Middle Earth...and falling for a certain stubborn, irascible Dwarf king.
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This story is being done at the request of Megan Nova, who recently posted her reactions to all six of Peter Jackson’s Middle Earth films. It’s very much outside my typical wheelhouse, but I was quite intrigued by the writing challenge she put out, and I’m definitely going to have some fun with this one. Her Youtube Channels, with the request for these fics in the second part of Battle of the Five Armies, are at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbu0Fgwa4BOQpmEHeZ6X4WQ and https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqzjHK2tb7-1LXTswEy6AbQ. All you really need to know going in is that this is an AU where the entire Company survived the battle (not my first choice, but it’s not my story idea, and I’m looking forward to how it can complicate things).**

*-*-*-*

Laketown had entered into a whole new era of prosperity after Erebor was retaken by its rightful Dwarf rulers. The King Under the Mountain Thorin Oakenshield had done his father and grandfather proud, establishing peaceful relations with all the kingdom’s neighbors (even if in some cases this mostly amounted to leaving each other alone entirely). And today, Master Bard’s son Bain was hoping to live up to his own father’s legacy as he took over the family barge.

The job was going as it usually did in these days of fecund trade, when suddenly a scream cut through the air. It was high and clearly from a woman, and as Bain looked around, there seemed to be no one else nearby to hear it. And Bard had very much raised him to respond to a person in need. He leaped from the barge with cudgel in hand, ready to face whatever danger lay in the wilderness.

He followed the scream to the main road leading to Laketown, and discovered it came from a young woman who was facing a pair of goblins, sneering at her with disdain and clearly enjoying her fear of them. “Oi, you!” Bain shouted and quickly got their attention. “How about you pick on a meatier target?”

It was all over in five seconds. The goblins clearly hadn’t been expecting any kind of real fight, and after a couple thrashes, they scampered away. Bain now turned his attention to the woman, who was still shivering on the ground. He held out his hand. “It’s all right now, miss. You’re safe.”

She took his hand and stood up, and he was stuck by her blue eyes as she turned her face up to him. A second later, he turned away blushing as he noticed her clothes were rather less modest than anything he’d seen on a woman before. “I beg your pardon, I didn’t realize they’d taken some of your garments.”

The woman seemed confused. “No, they didn’t. This is just what I came here in.” When Bain couldn’t think of anything to say to that, she went on. “Thank you, I don’t know what I would have done with those two. I’m Megan.”

Bain was still having some trouble facing her. “I’m Bain, son of Bard, the Master of Laketown. If you don’t mind, I don’t think I’ve ever heard an accent like that. Where do you hail from?”

Megan gave a sharp chuckle. “Well, that’s actually kind of a complicated question. You see…”

Before she could go any further, they were interrupted by a sizable animal bounding toward them. Bain quickly positioned himself between Megan and the danger. “Watch out, it seems to be some kind of juvenile warg. Though I’ve never seen one quite like this.” But when the creature reached them, he was surprised to find it eagerly sitting before him and staring up pleadingly.

Megan gave another laugh, much warmer this time. “Oh, that’s just Cash,” she said as she walked around Bain to pet the creature. “He may look big and scary, but he loves everyone.” She gave him a harsh look. “And he’s scared of everything too. Big help you were.”

By now Bain found himself able to look his new acquaintance square in the eye. “Well, if you’re going to travel the main road like this, you’d be wise to bring something more reliable. Orcs and goblins have gotten increasingly bold these last years. And you were saying where you were from?”

“Oh, right. This might be a bit hard to understand…”

*-*-*-*

Bain’s head was left spinning at the tale of another world, where this woman’s outfit was considered totally normal, and so many other things were different too. He was especially intrigued, verging on terrified, by its complete lack of magic. “And now you’re trying to find a way back there, I take it?”

Megan sighed in relief. “And you’re the first helpful person I’ve found. Do you have any idea what I can do?”

Bain shrugged. “This kind of thing is completely outside the knowledge of Men, as far as I know. But if you want to know more about mystical things, I certainly know who could help. We’d better go see my father.”

*-*-*-*

Master Bard had been quite welcoming, even if he also had the same problem as his son in being unable to look straight at her. And now here Megan stood outside the mountain Erebor, where Bard had assured her she would find her best chance at a way home. And after she and Cash were left standing outside for an uncomfortably long time, the Laketown Master finally returned with an encouraging smile.

“It took some doing, but I was able to get you an audience. Though I should give you some warning: King Thorin is not overfond of the race of Men, and this probably only worked because of our history. So you should be prepared to put up some fight to be taken seriously.”

Megan smirked. “Well, it’s a good thing I’m not a man, then. So let’s go.”

Despite her bravado, she couldn’t help but marvel with her jaw agape at Erebor’s main hall. The place was far more opulent and beautiful than any other place she’d seen so far in this strange new world, and she almost missed Bard introducing her to this Thorin she’d been warned about. But as soon as she did get a look at him, suddenly she found herself thinking “Maybe this place won’t be so bad after all.”


	2. Chapter 2

Thorin made what Megan considered a quite unnecessary big show of standing from his throne and gazing down at her. “And what can I do for this young lady and her monster?” he said, dripping with sarcasm.

The first thing that came to her mind was “I’d like to take your voice and curl up with it all night.” But she figured that wouldn’t be the best first impression to make.

Bard gave an uncomfortable cough. “She says it’s called a dog, and they’re apparently quite common in the land she’s from. Which is actually why we’re here, because…” he glanced back at her. “Er, why don’t you explain it?” Megan was quite amused at how embarrassed the Master seemed.

She stepped forward, suddenly quite glad Bard and Bain had convinced her to exchange her clothes for one of the dresses Bard’s daughter had outgrown. She got the feeling she’d have a much easier time getting people to take her seriously with it, and the way it set off the blue of her eyes didn’t hurt either. “You see…your majesty,” she paused, but the lack of reaction seemed to indicate that was the proper address. “I come from a whole different world. And don’t ask what I’m doing here, I just woke up here this morning and that’s all I know.”

Thorin didn’t have any response for an uneasily long time. In fact, he seemed torn between wanting to laugh or give a disdainful sneer. Finally he looked to the side and said, “Balin, you heard that same thing, right?”

Megan hadn’t noticed the white-haired Dwarf off to the side in the middle of all her gawking at the scenery. “I imagine so, yes,” he said with an awkward nod.

Bard spoke up again. “It’s the same tale she gave to me and my boy, and the clothes she had on at the time seemed to back it up. You’d certainly never see a self-respecting woman among us dressed so.”

Now Megan was really ticked off. But at the same time, it also reminded her of the one part of her outfit she’d insisted on keeping. “Why don’t you check these out, if you don’t believe me,” she said as she kicked her feet out from under the dress, revealing the bright red shoes she was so proud of.

This started a whole commotion, as not only Thorin and Balin but a whole bunch of other Dwarves gave a start at the sight, with some even crowding forward for a closer look. One of them, whose hair was gathered into three huge backward swoops which along with his beard made her think of a starfish, turned back and said “It’s like no material I’ve ever seen, and you know that’s saying something.” 

Thorin himself now came up, and seemed completely captivated. “Such a rich shade of red, like a perfect ruby. Do you have anything more like this?”

Megan couldn’t quite stifle a chuckle at his sudden change in attitude. “Back home, yeah, there’s a whole bunch of stuff like this.” She kept to herself that she didn’t personally own any of it; the conversation seemed to be going her way and she wasn’t going to stop that.

Another Dwarf with an intricately braided silver beard and rather prissy manner eagerly clapped his hands. “Well, that’s me decided at least. What do you say, Thorin, up for another adventure?”

Thorin grinned. “I do believe I am.”

*-*-*-*

As good as what Thorin said had sounded, it quickly turned out there was just one problem with it: none of them had any idea where to start. Thorin had solved this by talking to a butterfly, which he insisted would get word to someone who could help however skeptical Megan was. In the meantime, she got to know the names of several of the Dwarves. The ones she already knew were Dori and Nori, and she was quite thankful for the time that let her get a handle on all the other strange names as well.

“So why are Dwarves always miners, anyway?” she asked Bofur, who seemed like one of the more approachable of the bunch. “You know, hi ho hi ho and all that?”

Bofur simply took off his huge fur hat and scratched his head. “I’m sorry, you lost me there. Is that some typical Dwarf greeting in your world or something?”

“Yeah, I guess you could say that.”

“Well, just speaking for myself, if you live in a mountain and your whole economy is based off the jewels in it, mining just seems like the most important job there is, doesn’t it?”

Megan shrugged. “I guess so. So this Gandalf guy is going to know how to help me?”

Bofur nodded eagerly. “If anyone can, it’s him. He’s the whole reason we’re here now, after he brought us all together to take this place back from a dragon some time ago. It’s quite a story, you should hear it some time. And he’s definitely the wisest person I’ve ever met.”

That was a lot of information all at once, so she chose to just focus on the last bit. “Well, I can’t wait to meet him.”

*-*-*-*

Megan didn’t know quite what she expected from Gandalf, but a guy who looked exactly like the classic depiction of a wizard wasn’t quite it. Even with all she’d seen of the Dwarves, he seemed a bit on the nose. But he was nice enough upon being introduced to her. “Yes, I can see the problem. She is indeed not of this world.”

Thorin seemed a bit taken aback. “Really? We had a bit of a wager going on whether she’d just lost her mind.”

Megan scoffed at that, but for now all she cared about was the person who could help her get back home. Gandalf turned to her and said, “Young lady, I know I may not look it, but I am a being called an Istar, one of only a few sent to this realm to assist it in great need. And your situation certainly qualifies. And I do indeed believe I know where you have to go. Unfortunately, it will not be an easy journey.”

Megan smiled. “At this point, that’s not much of a surprise. So how long do you think it will take?”

“If the Company is true and there are not overmuch issues on the road, I would say about a month.”

Now that did get her attention. “You mean I’ve got to just go off into the wilderness for a month? I don’t even like camping.”

Thorin laughed at that. “I don’t see as you have much choice, at least if you don’t want to spend the rest of your days here. So Gandalf, just give her the directions and we can be done with this.”

Gandalf gave him a sharp look. “I did say Company, did I not? I certainly don’t intend to send the lady out on her own. And I believe it is time for you to get back out in the world again, Thorin Oakenshield, before this place again starts to affect your mind.”

The look on Thorin’s face was worth everything she’d been through so far.

*-*-*-*

“I still don’t see why it needs to be all of us again,” grumbled Thorin as the thirteen Dwarves assembled in the main hall of Erebor.

Gandalf gave a small tsk. “Remember how dangerous the quest to regain this kingdom was. And yet you all survived and are still here today, when another dangerous quest is needed. In my centuries on this plane I have learned not to ignore such obvious signs of fate at work.”

Megan gave a shy wave at Thorin, who snorted and turned away. She thought to herself, “Oh, you act like this now, but you will be my friend.” After all, there was apparently plenty of time to do it.

Now she just hoped those red shoes she loved so much could stand up to the trip.


End file.
